“Once You Go Fried…”

If my memory serves me correctly, there was a saying when I was a youngster that went like “Once you go fried, you never go back”… or was it “Once you go black, you never go fried”….. Oh schit, I was never good with clichés. None the less, a Cajun Fried Turkey is one of the most underrated Thanksgiving treats known to man.

Frying a turkey takes an otherwise boring and uninspiring piece of meat and transforms it into a moist and delicious culinary masterpiece. Combine that with my precooking secret weapon, a brine, and you will never go back to roasting your “white meat” again.

Cajun Fried Turkey

Brine

1 c salt

½ c brown sugar

¼ c Hell Bitch Cajun Seasoning

2 Bay Leafs

1 c ice

2 gallons cold water

Turkey

1 13 to 14 lb. fresh turkey

4 to 5 gallons 100% peanut oil

¼ c Hell Bitch Cajun Seasoning

1 30 Qt. turkey frying vessel

In a medium sauce pan, pour in the brining ingredients: salt, sugar, Hell Bitch, bay leafs and 2 cups of the water. Once the water comes to a boil, remove it from the heat, pour in ice and allow it to cool. Next, place turkey in 3 to 5 gallon Ziploc bag, pour in the remainder of the water and all the cooled brining solution. Remove the majority of air from the bag, close bag and place in the refrigerator for 6 to 12 hours.

Once the turkey has brined, remove it from bag and wash it thoroughly. Place turkey in empty frying vessel and fill with enough water to cover the turkey about 1 to 2 inches. Remove the turkey, pat dry and season liberally the outside and under the skin with Hell Bitch. Set aside. AFTER REMOVING THE TURKEY FROM WATER, DO NOT POUR WATER OUT OF FRYING VESSEL. SEE NEXT SET.

With water still in frying vessel, take a permanent marker and mark the water level on the vessel, which will indicate the amount of oil you will need to fry the turkey. Once marked, pour water out of vessel, dry out the inside and pour in peanut oil to the indicating mark. Set vessel on propane burner and bring the temperature to 350 degrees F and maintain for 5 minutes. Once at 350, slowly lower the bird into the oil and maintain the temperature between 325 to 350 degrees F. Cook bird for 3 to 4 minutes per pound. After approximately 35 minutes, check temperature of the bird in the thickest part of the breast using a temperature probe. Once the breast reaches 151 degrees F, gently remove from oil and allow bird to rest for 30 minutes. The turkey will reach an internal temperature of 161 degrees F due to carry over cooking. Once rested, carve and serve.

Note:

1 Always fry a turkey outdoors and free of anything flammable. I tend to fry my turkey in the driveway. Hot oil will likely splatter out of the pot when placing the cold turkey in the hot oil, so you may want to use a non-flammable splatter pad, which can be found at most hardware or sporting good stores.

2 If you choose to use Course Kosher salt instead of table salt, you will need to increase the amount of salt to 1 ½ cups.